Printers are well known computer peripherals widely used in both home and business computing environments. State of the art printers offer ever increasing levels of speed, print quality, easily manipulated format options, and a wide variety of features, such as document collating, stapling, and various levels of print quality. Many printers integrate multiple functions, such as copier, scanner, or facsimile capabilities into the printer. Many printers are sold with the capability to add further functions and features through the installation of software upgrades.
As it is used herein, the term “printer” signifies any device capable of providing printer function alone or, alternatively, any device providing printer function in combination with one or more other document processing functions, such as, for example, copying, scanning, or facsimile capabilities.
Unfortunately, many printers are either under utilized or inefficiently utilized as users do not understand, or are not informed, of potential software upgrades, hardware upgrades, firmware upgrades, printing options, maintenance or service packages, and other printer features that can allow for less expensive or more efficient printer usage. A user must be aware of both the availability of such an item, and that printer usage is of the type that would benefit from an upgrade or training. Learning the details of available upgrades has traditionally required a user to research the manufacturer's website, or printed materials, to examine all available printer related packages and then check their details for desired characteristics. Monitoring printer usage patterns requires users to keep track of all their printing, which is may be impracticable for some networked printers, or to examine and understand the printer event log or usage history files. These activities may be beyond the abilities or merely beyond the “comfort level” of a casual computer user.
A system, including a printer, that monitored printer usage and suggested to the user, or to a network administrator, upgrades, maintenance packages, or other downloads to make printer usage more efficient or reduce printing costs, would thus be an improvement in the art.
Traditional Aristotlean Logic includes the proposition of the law of the excluded middle, that every proposition must be either true or false, a binary system. While the application of this principle in mathematics and engineering has allowed for much of their precision and success, it is often unable to capture the details of an inherently vague decision making process. Attempts to capture intuitive decision making processes have required the development of alternative methodologies.
Fuzzy logic and fuzzy systems were proposed by Lofti A. Zadeh in the seminal articles Fuzzy Sets, Info. & Ctl, Vol. 8, pp. 338-353 (1965) and Fuzzy Algorithms, Info. & Ctl., Vol. 12, pp. 94-102 (1968), which are incorporated by reference herein. In place of the traditional binary logic, False and True (0 and 1), fuzzy logic uses an infinite valued logic over the range of Absolutely True to Absolutely False (0.0 to 1.0). The manipulation of values within this system allows for inherently vague processes to be controlled in a manner similar to classic logic, while maintaining the inherent intuitive features of the processes. Fuzzy logic control systems take a series of data inputs, convert them into fuzzy values (fuzzification), analyze those values according to a series of algorithms or rules, and result in an output based upon that analysis (defuzzification). Complex processes where a number of inputs and variables are used to create a measurable output, are especially suited for fuzzy logic control.
Fuzzy logic and fuzzy logic systems are increasingly used in control mechanisms for mechanical devices. Examples of systems where fuzzy logic control have proved successful include environmental controls for electronic equipment housing and cement processing equipment. Fuzzy systems have even been used to control laser power and scorotron voltage to optimize print quality in a laser printer, as detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,812 to Hopkins, issued Jun. 2, 1998, which is herein incorporated by reference. While the incorporation of fuzzy logic into these systems has allowed for more precise and faster control of the mechanisms of these devices, it has not provided for the development of methods or systems to improve the functioning of the controlled device through the selection of support, upgrades, maintenance or other optional services based upon the usage of the device. Inclusion of this feature in a printer, or a method providing such controlled selection in connection with printer would constitute an improvement in the art.